Rich Fisher

General Manager & host of StudioTulsa

Rich Fisher passed through KWGS about thirty years ago, and just never left. Today, he is the general manager of Public Radio Tulsa, and the host of KWGS’s public affairs program, StudioTulsa, which will celebrate its twentieth anniversary in August 2012 . As host of StudioTulsa, Rich has conducted roughly four thousand long-form interviews with local, national, and international figures in the arts, humanities, sciences, and government. Very few interviews have gone smoothly. Despite this, he has been honored for his work by several organizations including the Governor's Arts Award for Media by the State Arts Council, a Harwelden Award from the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa, and was named one of the “99 Great Things About Oklahoma” in 2000 by Oklahoma Today magazine.

In addition, Rich is an active musician. He’s currently the principal trombonist of the Signature Symphony at TCC, leads the Starlight Jazz Orchestra, and is a free-lance musician whose work ranges from the pit of touring Broadway musicals, to the salsa band, Grupo Salsabor.

Ways to Connect

How many cigarettes are sold each year, worldwide? Believe it or not, six trillion. Our guest, who calls the cigarette "the deadliest artifact in the history of human civilization," was the first-ever historian, several years ago, to testify in court against Big Tobacco. On this installment of our show, we speak by phone with Robert N. Proctor, Professor of the History of Science at Stanford University.

What do you use to take pictures of your kids, your friends, your family, your vacation destinations? It's all but surely a digital camera of some kind --- and it might well be a "personal device" such as an iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Windows phone, or Blackberry. Photography --- like everything else nowadays connected with technology --- ain't what it used to be....

Summertime, for food-lovers and capable chefs both near and far, is Vegetable Time. There are, of course, so many tasty veggies --- freshly picked, readily available, and in season --- at one's local market...wherever that market is located. On this edition of ST, therefore, we speak by phone with Susie Middleton, a chef, food writer, and gardener who lives and works on Martha's Vineyard, where she maintains a small farm.

On this installment of our program, we speak with Lauren Ross, the Nancy E. Meinig Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Philbrook Museum of Art here in Tulsa. Philbrook has just opened a fascinating exhibition called "Antibodies: The Works of Fernando and Humberto Campana, 1989-2009," which will be on view through October 7th of this year. As Ross explains, this show originated at the Vitra Design Museum in Germany; it's the first of three exhibits from that museum which Philbrook will present over the next few years.

On this edition of ST, we speak with Aili McConnon, a Canadian journalist, who (along with her brother, Andres) is the co-author of an exciting work of non-fiction called "Road to Valor: A True Story of WWII Italy, the Nazis, and the Cyclist Who Inspired a Nation." This book recounts the strange-but-true, against-the-odds story of Gino Bartali, a cyclist who not only won the Tour de France twice, but who also (to this day) holds the record for the longest time-span between victories.

On this edition of StudioTulsa, we speak by phone with the French-born, Brooklyn-based, and widely acclaimed guitarist, Stephane Wrembel, who performs this evening (Wednesday the 11th) at 7pm at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in downtown Tulsa.

(Note: This show first aired back in April.) A century ago, women could not own property or vote. Today, women are the primary wage earners in about 40% of American households, and are poised to be a majority within twenty years if current trends continue. Washington Post staff writer Liza Mundy calls it "The Big Flip" and examines this huge cultural shift and its impact on gender roles, relationships, and social dynamics.

"1913 Massacre" is the name of a song that Woody Guthrie wrote circa 1941; it recounts an early-20th-century tragedy that happened at the Italian Hall building in Calumet, Michigan, on Christmas Eve of 1913, when hundreds of miners, along with their families and friends, had gathered for a party. At that time, Calumet was at the heart of Michigan's then-lucrative copper-mining activity.

Our guest is Mark Lewis, the well-regarded Tulsa-based artist, and member of the University of Tulsa art faculty, whose paintings, drawings, and collage works have been shown in galleries nationwide. He's also been a longtime fixture on the sidewalks of 11th Street, Cherry Street, Brookside, and downtown, where he's been making paintings (and, more recently, collages) of this community's cityscapes for more than a dozen years.

On this installment of ST, we're looking back on the life and music of the late Doc Watson, who died in May at the age of 89. Watson was a truly legendary guitarist and singer whose work in the realms of folk, bluegrass, country, blues, and gospel music won him several Grammy Awards and universal acclaim. Despite being blind from infancy, he had a long and highly influential career; his guitar-playing (and especially his flat-picking skills) as well as his vast knowledge of traditional American music were, and still are, considered unequaled.

Tomorrow, of course, is the Fourth of July, America's birthday. But, in the meantime, today (July 3rd) is the 149th anniversary of Pickett's Charge, the failed Confederate infantry assault on the final day of the Battle of Gettysburg: the unsuccessful attack (named for Maj. Gen. George Pickett) that's now basically seen as the beginning of the end of the Southern war effort.

On this edition of StudioTulsa, we are pleased to speak with Dr. Geoffrey Orsak, who begins his tenure as TU's 18th president. Dr. Orsak was formerly Dean of the Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering at Southern Methodist University (SMU). He earned his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in electrical and computer engineering from Rice University, and he's widely seen as one of the nation's outstanding leaders in engineering research and education. In recently announcing Dr. Orsak's presidential appointment, Duane Wilson of the TU Board of Trustees noted: "Dr.

Our guest on this edition of ST is Derry Noyes, an art diretor and graphic designer with the US Postal Service (you can read her bio here). Noyes was the art director a series of Forever US Postage stamps created in 2011 to salute such pioneering American industrial designers as Norman Bel Geddes, Russell Wright, Henry Dreyfuss, and Walter Dorwin Teague.

Our guest on this installment of ST is the widely celebrated NYC-based jazz pianist Aaron Goldberg (born in Boston in 1974), whose playing has been tagged by The New York Times as "versatile and impressive, and he swings hard.... [He's a] sharp young pianist with a superb rhythm section." He has been active on the national/international jazz scene since the early 1990s, playing with everyone from Betty Carter, Wynton Marsalis, Al Foster, and Terry Gibbs, to Joshua Redman, Mark Turner, Ali Jackson, and Kurt Rosenwinkel.

On this edition of ST, we speak with Dr. Robert H. Donaldson, the Trustees Professor of Political Science here at the University of Tulsa; he's also a former President of TU. Dr. Donaldson is a leading expert on Russian and Soviet politics and policies; he joins us to discuss the contemporary state of US-Russian relations.

How big a problem is bullying in our nation's schools today? It's a troubling issue affecting the lives of millions of our kids; when it comes to how many schoolchildren are being bullied each year in America, estimates range from 7 to 13 million youngsters. On this installment of ST, we speak with Lee Hirsch, producer and director of the documentary film, "Bully," which was released last year to widespread critical acclaim.

On this installment of StudioTulsa, we're joined by Elizabeth Chambers, the collections manager for the Mount Vernon Estate, Museum, and Gardens, who's currently in town to help set-up a show opening at the Gilcrease Museum on Sunday the 24th. It's a traveling exhibit, "Discover the Real George Washington: New Views from Mount Vernon," that will be on view at Gilcrease through September 23rd. What do we know, for certain, about "the Father of Our Country"?

On this edition of StudioTulsa, we are joined by Dan Call and David Blakely, two Tulsa-area theatre veterans who are involved with a new musical, "Hank the Cowdog and Monkey Business," which is being presented by Tulsa Repertory Musicals as part of the SummerStage series at the Tulsa PAC. It's a family-friendly show that's been adapted from one the titles in the popular (and long-running) "Hank the Cowdog" series of children's books by John Erickson; it will play in the PAC's Doenges Theater from today (the 21st) through Sunday (the 24th).

(Please note: This show first aired back in March of this year.) Ever felt like quitting the whole earning-and-buying rat race? Ever wondered what it'd be like to live without a wallet, a car, a mortgage, or even a roof over your head?

Tulsa Partners, a nonprofit organization that's been working to build a disaster-resistant and sustainable community since late 2000, will celebrate its 2012 Nania Awards this evening (Tuesday the 19th) at a banquet and fundraising auction at the Tulsa Garden Center.

On this edition of StudioTulsa, Nancy Pearl, our longtime book expert and the author of four "Book Lust" volumes of recommended reading --- and now, also, the curator of Amazon.com's new series of reprints of classic, out-of-print books --- offers her summer reading list. (Summer arrives, officially, on Wednesday the 20th!) Here is Nancy's list:

Did you know that more than 16% of Oklahomans live in poverty? Or that more than 23% of the children in our state live in poverty? Or that more than 80% of the students in the Tulsa Public Schools qualify for the free and reduced-cost lunch program? Or that 17% of the residents in Tulsa County are "food insecure" --- meaning, they're unsure of where they'll get their next meal? On this installment of StudioTulsa, we hear about a new anti-hunger campaign in our community that kicked off just last month: Live Local, Give Local.

On this edition of ST, we speak with the Tulsa-based writer, consultant, and activist Ann Patton, who's just published a biography of the late (and legendary) Father Dan Allen, a Catholic priest turned social activist who worked incessantly (and memorably) to combat poverty and promote equality in Tulsa in the 1960s and beyond. Father Dan is probably best known for creating the Tulsa-area social service agency, Neighbor for Neighbor, which still exists today.

Eric Gibson, artistic director of LOOK Musical Theatre, is the guest on this edition of StudioTulsa. LOOK is an anchor for the Tulsa Performing Arts Center Trust's annual Summerstage Festival (which happens each June and July).

On this edition of our show, we speak with our old friend Jeff Martin, who occasionally contributes commentaries to ST, works as the Online Communities Manager at Philbrook Museum of Art, and is the founder/mastermind behind the ongoing (and non-profit) Book Smart Tulsa series of readings/signings. This always-active, ever-engaging literary series --- which has been popular with Tulsa book-lovers of all sorts since its inception three years ago (or so) --- will present its 100th event tonight, Tuesday the 12th, at 7pm at Dwelling Spaces in downtown Tulsa.